Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Saint Maurelius of Voghenza was born in Edessa, in Mesopotamia, to a pagan royal family. As a young man he embraced the Christian faith, and when he could no longer live it freely at court, he renounced earthly privilege and set his heart on Christ. After yielding the throne to his brother, he sought spiritual formation under Theophilus of Antioch and was ordained a priest, dedicating himself to the Church’s teaching and unity. Sent to investigate troubling errors in the faith, Maurelius was summoned to Rome. Providence redirected his journey, and there the Pope, guided by a heavenly vision, chose him as bishop of Voghenza. Tradition remembers signs accompanying his ministry—blessings from above, healings, and a forewarning of suffering—confirming the cost of his fidelity. Accounts of his death differ, yet they agree in this: Maurelius bore witness with courage amid conflict, and he is honored as a martyr. He is especially venerated in Ferrara and is patron of Malborghetto di Boara. His feast day is May 7.

Saint Domnius was born in Antioch, in the region of Syria (modern-day Turkey), into a prominent and wealthy family, and received a fine education there. Though later tradition remembers him as one of the Seventy Disciples who came to Rome with Saint Peter and was sent to evangelize Dalmatia, he is more likely a shepherd of the early Church in the fourth century. Around 284 he became bishop of Salona, near today’s Solin, faithfully guiding the Christian community as imperial hostility intensified. During the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian, Domnius bore courageous witness to Christ. He was arrested and, with other believers, condemned for the faith. On April 10, 304, he was beheaded in the amphitheatre at Salona and buried in the Manastirine cemetery outside the city walls, honored as a martyr. When Salona later fell, the people carried his memory and relics to nearby Split, where he is venerated as the city’s patron, and where Diocletian’s own mausoleum became the Cathedral of Saint Domnius. His feast day is May 7.